Sub Rosa
by fullmetaljo
Summary: In the wake of Wall Maria's breech, the inhabitants of Wall Rose were on the verge of famine. While attempts were made by the powers that be to halt widespread starvation, nothing could prevent the inevitable. Aimed at reclaiming humanity's lost territory, a plan was devised. Those who were involved were unprepared of the horrors that awaited them. Their story begins here.


**On That Day  
**by Klutch

A lone bead of sweat trickled down Thaddeus' forehead before being flung into the air by the boy's jerky movements. He clenched his teeth, hunched over the galloping horse and gripped the reins so tight his hands were even paler than his face. Thoughts of the day now had hold of his mind: the panic, disorganization, and fear. Being told of the situation, but the faces of his superiors not matching the words they spoke. Nobody really believed this was happening. Nobody could understand. The titans had broken through wall Maria. The titans had invaded Shiganshina.

For the first time since the walls were built a hundred years ago, titans were within.

The man on the horse was in his prime years - at the age where he could have been an apprentice to an artisan trader or a student of Philosophy in one of the inner districts. Instead, he wore the short brown jacket, white pants and knee-high leather boots of the military. Around his hips were thick metal boxes and attached to his lower back was a complicated-looking device connected to a barrelled spool of wire. On his hands were a pair of leather, fingerless gloves. Thaddeus Adams was handsome, with a strong jaw and wavy deep brown hair. The frown he currently wore on his face was a rare occurrence.

"Thaddeus! Get your head together! Stop zoning out!" called Justin atop another horse to Thaddeus' left. Thaddeus snapped to attention, and realized the rest of the group was taking a road that branched off from the one they were on, leaving him and Justin behind. He redirected and the pair caught up.

"Sorry," Thaddeus said, "just worried is all."

Justin took a second to answer. "Listen, your grandparents are fine. They live along the river north of Shiganshina right? I'm sure soldiers will get there before any titans arrive. They'll be too busy eat-" Justin stopped, snapping his face forward and turning pale. Thaddeus pretended not to notice, but wondered if he just witnessed the first time Justin realized the full gravity of what was happening.

"You're right. They'll be fine," Thaddeus admitted. Justin was right. They would get word before anyone. But it was still difficult to not further tighten his grip on the reins when he thought about it, so he pushed the subject out of his mind and focused on the task at hand.

Alice, another soldier with long legs and dirty blonde hair tied in a ponytail, pulled up next to him on her own horse. "Glad you're back, Thad. Thought you were gonna try and go AWOL for a second there." She said as she gave a little nervous laugh.

"Sorry, It's just...everything today is moving so fast, I can hardly wrap my head around it."

"Yeah I know how you feel. It's weird knowing they're inside the wall, even though they're so far south right now." Alice looked around, "I feel like one's going to pop out every time we pass a tree or something." Another nervous laugh escaped her, "It makes me kinda wish I worked harder in training. If we did see one I don't think...think I could..." Her sentence trailed off into ragged, erratic breathing.

Justin surged up next to her and reached over to squeeze her arm, despite both of them bouncing from the galloping horses. "Hey, calm down. Relax. You've got me and Thad. We're the best in the class, remember?" He smiled at her.

"Well not _the best_," Alice said, returning a small smile and hiccuping. "But you're right. If anything happens, I've got you two."

Thaddeus smiled at her as well, but wondered what good he could really do if anything did happen.

Thaddeus' current superior, Alexander, was a gruff, stocky man whose face seemed permanently affected by his perpetually worried look. His jacket was the only one not to bear the crossed swords emblem of the trainees; instead it held the spread wings of the Scouts. The captain called to the group: "Alright, listen up kids! This should be a simple evacuation. There likely won't be any titans but keep your eyes open. If you see one, remember our mission is evacuating civilians." He sucked in a deep breath before yelling: "_Do not forget your oath to the people and your king_. Andrea, Lucas,Samson! Head to the farms down the western road! Tyler,Colton! Head to the estate beyond the town! Alice, Thaddeus,Justin, you're with me!"

"Yes sir!" the recruits shouted - failing to do so in unison - as the town square approached from the distance. Andrea, Lucas and Samson split off from the main group, taking a road to the left.

The rest of the squad entered the town limits; a rather unimpressive collection of simple buildings surrounding a large open area in which pedestrians watched the incoming soldiers with curiosity. While Tyler and Colton continued down the main street, Thaddeus, Alice, Justin and their gruff leader came to a halt in the middle of the square. All eyes were on them.

Alexander hollered, "Attention Everyone! Listen up! Titans have broken through wall Maria and are invading the region! Everyone is to be evacuated to Trost immediately! This is not a drill!" The soldier's annoucement was answered with confused murmur.

"Is this some sort of joke?" one man asked.

"This is not a joke! This area must be evacuated!" Alexander reiterated.

The man retorted, "We can't just pick up and leave. Some of us have crops to tend." Alexander whirled his horse around to face the man and approached him. He dismounted. Thaddeus and Justin shared a nervous glance.

"Sir?" Alice asked, her voice shaky.

The town watched in wonder as the soldier stepped up to the skeptic - who was a foot taller than him - whipped out one of his paring blades, aimed it right at the man's nose and growled, "Fine, then I'll cut you apart right here." The naysayer's face was now pale and horrified. "If you don't want to die then get moving."

The tension in the air continued to rise, but the citizens remained unmoved. "GET MOVING!", Alexander yelled to the square, and the murmurs of curiosity turned to shouts of fear and confusion. The crowd turned into a churning, hasty mess. "You have thirty minutes! We are retreating to within wall Rose through the Trost district!" he said again. "You three! Door to door!"

As their superior continued to shout to the disorganized mass, Justin, Thaddeus and Alice split apart and headed into three separate alleyways, going door-to-door to warn yet unsuspecting civilians of the impending threat.

"What's going on out there? I heard yelling."

"You want us to do what?"

"Evacuate the town? What on earth for?"

Some of the civilians were resistant, but there was very little trouble in all. Within a few minutes, families were saddling horses, preparing carriages or heading north on foot. The evacuation was going smoothly.

Then there was screaming.

Thaddeus turned to the source of the noise, blood draining from his limbs as the now-familiar adreneline rush hit him. A rather ornery old man called after him as Thaddeus leapt away from their conversation, one hand on a blade handle. He exited the alley to see people running from a road at the far end of the square. Although he prayed that it was just somebody being more stubborn than they ought to be about leaving their home, the panicked looks of the fleeing crowd told a different story. He knew what was happening even before someone in the crowd cried, "Titan! It's a titan!"

The boy steeled himself. From the bulky metal boxes hanging from his waist, he unsheathed his paring blades - thin, flexible razors as long as swords. He squeezed triggers on the handles of both blades and with a burst of smoky gas from the apparatus on his back, anchors pulling wispy wires shot from his waist. They connected to buildings on either side of Thaddeus with a solid _thunk_. Squeezing another pair of triggers, the maneuver gear let out a metallic _whirr_, and reeled him in towards the building. He was lifted off the ground and then launched into the air above the heads of the terrified masses. In the air, he released the anchors, and the wires whipped back into his gear. Arms open wide, knees bent, hips forward and chest out, he glided through the wind. When he reached the road at the far end of the courtyard, he hooked onto another pair of buildings, and used the resistance to slow his fall. He touched down on the paved ground, transitioning between flying and a brisk run without a beat. Thaddeus turned the corner into an alley and saw it.

The monster was a naked man - though without any reproductive organs - stretched and mutated to hideous dimensions. It was seven meters tall with a head too small for its body, and hands and feet too large. The titan towered over the roofs of the alley, and cast a looming shadow over the street. Thaddeus was still, struggling to comprend the size of the thing. It stood upright, gripping something in its hands. The figure within was trying to weasel its way through the gaps in the creature's massive fingers. The giant wore a grotesque grin. It had its prize trapped.

This was a titan. The scourge of humanity. This was what it was like to meet one face-to-face.

Horrorstruck, Thaddeus noticed that the prize in the titan's fat fingers was Alice. The beast lifted her to its mouth and opened wide.

"No, no. Shit. Please no," she sobbed. She pushed against the hand, but her wild struggling was useless against its strangling grip. She was lifted head first into the titan's mouth and she tried to press against it. Her hands slipped against the teeth and the tongue and the roof. "No no," she began to say, but the sobbing overtook her ability to speak. When the titan bit down,her legs flailed. Blood soaked her pants and trickled down the titan's chin.

This was what it was like to meet one face-to-face. And this was what it was like to watch a friend die.

After the monster finished stuffing the girl into its blissful face, it turned its head toward the spectator. It took a step and reached out toward Thaddeus. Before the boy had a chance to wipe the tears from his eyes, instinct took hold as he gave a colossal incoming finger a wild slash. He cut the digit long ways and snapped half of his blade off. As the creature reeled, the soldier fired his maneuver gear between its legs and slid underneath it on the ground. His foot caught on a protruding paving stone flipping him head over feet, only just saving his head with his arms.

He lay there, propped up on his elbows, and turned to face the titan - his vision of the thing blurred from tears as it lumbered back around for another go. The wound in its finger was sealing up and exudinga thick gray steam. It licked the blood on its chin and gave another happy smile. _Alice's blood_. Thaddeus cried; but not for fear or grief. His face burned as he rose to his feet. His arms were shaking, but his legs remained still.

"FUCK YOU, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" he howled, voice cracking. He wiped his eyes and charged toward the titan, releasing the broken blade and attaching another. With a squeeze of the trigger in the hilt of his blade, he anchored onto the building to his right. His rage thinking and feeling for him, he zipped past the titan's reaching hand and - with another anchor on its shoulder - whipped around towards its back. Before the beast could react, Thaddeus swung his razor sharp paring blades diagonally at the nape of its neck. Blood sprayed into the air and a thick meaty chunk was separated from the flesh. The titan howled. "Shit!" yelled Thaddeus, realizing he'd missed the titan's weak point and failed to kill it. He redirected, bringing himself around the titan's waist and then upwards across its chest. As it turned, Thaddeus fired his anchors into the building behind it. He squeezed the gas triggers and pulled himself hard straight towards the back of its neck. Readying his strike, he saw too late the monstrous hand swinging through the air, its long fingers spread wide.

The hand crashed into Thaddeus and knocked the wind from his lungs; those long fingers wrapping tight around his arms. He struggled to regain his breath, but his lungs were being crushed. He was lifted face-to-face with the titan. He couldn't speak or struggle, all he could manage was to wiggle his legs. The titan opened its vast maw, dripping with thick saliva. As Thaddeus gagged at the smell, a whirl of silver flashed at the side of his vision, and he felt himself drop. Before he could react, Thaddeus hit the hard ground and crumbled into a ball, retching from disgust and fear.

A human-sized arm wrapped around Thaddeus' waist and he struggled not to vomit again as it squeezed around him and lifted him up. He was set down to see Justin staring at him with the most worried look. "You alright buddy?!" His voice sounded urgent, but relieved. Justin's thick glasses rested on his nose, and his dark rough hair was held against his forehead by sweat and a knit winter hat. Sweat dripped down his square face towards his goatee as he helped his friend back to his feet. "I nearly panicked there," he laughed to Thaddeus, who was only just regaining his bearings and his breath.

Their stocky captain swung in from the air and landed on the tiles beneath them. Thaddeus glanced at the titan, seeing the steam spewing from the back of the oversized hand it cradled. He surmised the captain must have cut the tendons there, releasing the fingers and saving himself. Alexander spoke, "Thaddeus! Are you alright? Can you still move?"

Thaddeus was still somewhat stunned, and took a moment trying to understand the question. "Yes," he mumbled with a start, "yes, I'm fine. I can still fight." He looked at his paring blades, both broken to the hilt this time, and released them onto the shingled roof. The titan let go of its already healed hand and barreled down the road towards the roof where the soldiers now stood. Thaddeus attached another set of blades and zoomed down the road behind Alexander and Justin, swinging in between the buildings.

"We only need to distract it while the civilians evacuate! Keep your distance!" Alexander called back to his subordinates.

"What about after? It's flat ground outside," asked Justin.

"We'll figure that out when we get there!" An image flashed in Thaddeus' mind of the group running out of gas and trying to outrun the titan on foot, its hands outstretched in front of it.

The three soldiers had limited room to maneuver in. There were enough buildings, and some of them were high enough to use the gear on, but most of the roads lead away from the town square and out into open fields. The maneuver gear was useless without something high to swing from. Multiple times the group had to perform dangerous maneuvers to turn around. Thaddeus had little trouble with the acrobatics, but he saw Justin and Alexander falter a couple times. At one point, Thaddeus even had to zip right past the titan's face - and enormous gnashing teeth - to keep from entering unfavorable ground. Now he was in the zone, as Justin would have called it. He let himself feel his weight and momentum, take in every nook and cranny of his environment, and forget about the terrible consequences should he slip, or Alice's terrible fate. He zoomed toward the titan's face, then made a quick jolt to the right before ultimately pulling leftward. The behemoth fell for the jig, and clawed at the empty air while its prey gained ground in the opposite direction.

After a few close calls, Alexander opted for him and his soldiers to lead the titan in circles around a church in the town square - the largest building nearby. By now, the town was silent except for the footsteps of the titan, and the _whirrs _of the maneuver gear. It went well for a handful of passes, until Alexander went too far around. With a thunderous crash, the titan walked straight through the church. Half of the building crumbled and the bricks came loose, causing Justin, Thaddeus, and their captain to lose control. Thaddeus crashed hard into a building - knocking the air from his lungs - and then again to the paved ground. As he gasped for air, Thaddeus spotted his superior laying in the wreckage of the church, half covered in bricks. The captain's cords would not reel back into the maneuver gear; something inside must have busted in the impact. The titan gaily plucked the captain from the rubble by a foot.

Justin slid to a halt by Thaddeus and lifted him to his feet once again. He must have managed a more graceful landing than his comrades. As Thaddeus at last began to catch his breath, Justin said, "No choice. We have to kill it now." And Thaddeus understood. There really would be no surviving if they fled until their gas ran out. "We'll do it in formation, just like we trained. I'll get the legs, then you get the neck. Get it while it's distracted. Got it?"

"What if I miss?"

Somehow, Justin grinned."You won't miss."

Justin took off in a blinding mist of gas and Thaddeus followed. Alexander now dangled limp in front of the titan's wide open mouth. With a hook in the titan's ankle, Justin readied his blades, twisting his body to lift them high above his head while maintaining balance. He reeled in, zipping behind its calves. He released the anchor and pulled his body in, swinging the edges of his flesh paring blades clean through the tendon above the heel of the first leg and nicking the skin of the second. One leg was enough, as the titan dropped his meal, then dropped to one knee. As the beast fell, Thaddeus swung over its shoulder and readied himself for a similar strike. He was in the zone, as Justin would have called it. His eye trained on that patch of flesh below the neck, and he markedthe oversized spinal column jutting out from beneath the skin. The trajectory of his body and the centripetal force exerted upon it as he turned. Like a cat, he twirled his body around in midair and brought the blades downward and through the flesh. A jet of blood and steam erupted from the wound. Beyond, the glare of the sun was bright over the horizon;the sky and clouds a gradient of pinks and oranges. It warmed his face and the blood singed his skin. He heard the thunder of the monster's corpse crashing into the ground.

This was what it was like to kill a titan.


End file.
